Raging On (You Gotta Survive)
by itsrudytoo
Summary: Surviving Kanimas, Nogitsune, and psychotic hunters was one thing; now the crew of Beacon Hills find themselves having to survive a hoard of violent raging humans, minus a few players. Connor Durand doesn't really understand them but she blames herself for everything that's happened so she will do whatever she can to protect them... especially the adorably infuriating blond one. AU
1. Chapter 1

**After the show down with the nogitsune the pack of Beacon Hills only got a few weeks to grieve and morn… and to just rest before their next big battle started. Only this time it wasn't something they couldn't stop or fight. It only took a couple of months for everything to fall apart; no one was expecting it so the government wasn't prepared. After three months it had managed to spread to every continent. They had already lost Allison and not so sadly Aiden so it wasn't hard to band together and keep each other safe. There was no way they were losing someone else, but sadly they did. The first was Scott's dad and then Kria's parents after that. It was hard to just sit around and watch people die or be turned into a raging monster. It was even harder to have to kill the things they turned into because they still looked like people. They had survived so long against so many different things and now they had to survive against a force of nature that couldn't be stopped with no help from the outside. Until a stranger walked into their life bringing nothing but good for everyone. Just when they thought they would have to say goodbye to another, they found her and her cure. Connor Durand walked into their life when they needed it the most but that didn't mean the trouble and heart ache was going to stop there, they were still living on borrowed time and it was only going to get worse before it got better. **

**Isaac was a fighter always has been, but how can you fight something you only thought existed in movies and video games while protecting someone you find yourself inexplicable drawn to. After surviving an evil Japanese fox and finally getting rid of at least one of the twin's things just kept getting crazier. It was all over the news at first. It started on the east coast, New York, but no one really believed what was being said. I mean a virus that made the effected behave in a rageful manner, it was like the start of every single zombie movie ever made, but the infected weren't dead or reanimated corpses. No they were just ordinary people who got sick and just never got better… oh and they wanted to rip your throat out any chance they got. It was like a serious case of rage on crack and you could be infected with any kind of blood contact.**

**Outfits: www polyvore com / chapter / set?id = 116640537  
www polyvore com / chapter / set?id = 116677648  
www polyvore com / chapter / set?id = 116615485**

**Extra: www polyvore com / connor _durand _surviving _virus / collection?id = 3446629**

**(Connor Durand – Jemima West, brunette)**

**I do not own Teen Wolf or any other affiliation of any kind, I don't own anything but this OC and this idea.**

* * *

**(_Raging - _****_To speak or act in violent anger; to move with great violence or intensity; to spread or prevail forcefully_****.)**

**Chapter 1**

**From Office Job to Raging Storm**

_"Lock-down in progress, lock-down in progress,"_

The alarm bells were ringing and the red lights were flashing. Everyone was screaming and running for their lives. _"Lock-down in progress, lock-down in progress…"_ it blared from the speakers running throughout the building. We ran and tried to get out but as soon as the sirens began we knew we were doomed. Some stupid putz had just cost us our lives but it was really the higher ups who thought it was smart to start messing around with new viruses. The clear plate glass doors were just up ahead, I pushed through all the scurrying people. There was no way I was going to let those doors close with me on the inside. I only had another foot to go and the door was at least thirty seconds from closing, I did something that I had only seen in all those sifi movies I have watched religiously all my life. I slid underneath the closing door right before it clicked down and locked everyone inside. I could see I wasn't the only one to get out but escaping from the certain death my fellow workmates were about to be subjected to wasn't something to celebrate. Anyone of us to get out could be caring the virus, myself included, and it was only a matter of time before it started to spread. I had to get out of New York City and I had to get out now. If it wasn't the spread of the virus that was a threat it was most certainly my bosses who would stop at nothing to keep this all contained and I wasn't about to die today. I ran to my old beat up mustang and pushed her faster then she had probably ever gone her entire life.

I knew I didn't have much time, if anyone that got out was infected their symptoms would be showing up in a matter of hours. They had direct contact to the pure sample so it wouldn't take as long to incubate in their system. I looked around me, watched all the cars driving past, just making sure none of them were following me. I drove around the block my apartment was on at least two times just to make sure and when I didn't see any signs of anyone I finally parked and headed inside. So I had less than twenty four hours to make a decision. Do I take the paranoid rout and start stock piling weapons, water, and food just in case it got out or do I just pack a bag and get the hell out of dodge because there was no questioning I was in immense danger…1 …2 …3 breath… I could do both, I could start heading west and pick up things on the way... stay one step ahead of this thing.

"East National Bank, this is Tammy how can I assist you today."

"I need to cash out my trust fund, Conner Jane Durand."

"Okay well you'll need to actually be present at the bank to do that, so when would you like to do that?"

"As soon as possible… like today."

"Well our bank manager has an opening in about an hour,"

"Perfect!"

"Okay so you will need at least two forms of identification and the paper work stating that the trust fund was in fact signed over to you."

"Not a problem… thank you so much." I ended the call and gathered everything I would need. There was no way I would be able to cash out my checking account or savings account so I would have to slowly bleed them along the way, take a little out at a time. I ran upstairs and started packing anything my hands touched, skipping the suites and heels. I pulled my clothes off so quickly that I think I ripped them a little but I needed to get the hell out of here as soon as possible. I stuffed three bags full of clothes and a couple of pairs of boots… that should be enough and I could get the supplies I needed along the way. "Balto!" I loaded up all the bags and headed back downs stairs… I came to an abrupt halt as I passed the framed pictures sitting on the table next to the door. This would be a hell of a lot harder if I actually had someone to worry about but lucky for me I didn't have anyone left. I picked up the pictures of my mom and Sasha and held them both to my chest as I rushed back out to my car. I made sure to keep a sharp eye out around me, "Balto… here boy!" I threw my bags in the back seat and held the door open so Balto could jump in. I climbed into the front seat and gently laid the pictures in the passenger seat. My life as I know it is now officially over.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Three Months Later:**

Beacon Hills, I have been here for nearly two weeks. It was the longest I had stayed anywhere but it was just too quiet to leave. I hadn't seen more than maybe half a dozen crazies since I got here and I couldn't help but soak up the silence. On my third night in town I had found a nice abandoned house out in the middle of the woods, it was old and burnt out but it was a nice shelter from nature. I haven't really seen any other person, normal person, and the nearly two months of silence was starting to get lonely.

"Chris… …" What the hell was that, was that someone yelling? I sat my can of peaches down and sat up, inching closer out of the door. There was no way I had actually heard an actual live normal human. "Isaac… …" okay the crazies couldn't yell out in actual words but I haven't actually seen another living soul that wasn't trying to rip my throat out in months. "help…" okay someone was out there and they needed help. I checked my belt to make sure I had everything strapped in and I grabbed the sword I had laid down next to me. I ran as fast as I could without drawing a lot of attention to myself but it was hard to know where to go because no one was making any noise. Come on make some more noise so I can find you and help you. I stopped and ducked behind a tree and just listened, maybe I would hear some footsteps or someone talking.

My spine might have literally turned into steel when I heard the snap of a branch behind me, followed by a low animalistic growl. Great I had left my nice safe shelter to help an innocent and now I had a crazy on my ass. I gripped my sword tighter in my hand and counted to three…1 …2 …3, I jumped out, sword drawn, expecting to see a bloody rage fueled monster with yellow eyes but instead I was met with… well I don't quite know what the hell it is. It was a man but there was no blood, definitely hostile, and yellow eyes… but they were more amber than the jaundice yellow of the crazies. He had hair on his face and really big canines, like a dog. I couldn't move… I had prepared myself to kill but instead I found myself staring into the face of something I had never seen before… … … "Get down!" I yelled when I saw an actual crazy stumbling up behind him. I never liked using guns, they were loud and drew too much attention but I didn't have any other choice. I hit it once in the chest and once in the arm but finally on the third try I hit it in the head. I quickly looked around me to make sure there weren't more before turning back to yellow eyes but now he was… blue eyes. What the hell… had I been infected… was I hallucinating? I quickly drew my gun on him, it, whatever the hell he was. "What are you?!"

"Well last time I checked I was a guy… where did you come from?" Oh so he was a smart ass on top of… whatever the hell he was.

"Don't be a smart ass… now tell me what the hell you are!" I didn't need to have super hearing to hear the clicking of a gun being cocked right behind my head. Oh great this was some kind of crazy militia and I just walked right into it, damn it!

"Lower your gun," A low and menacing voice demanded.

"I just saved this guys life and you're threatening me right now?!"

"Just lower your gun and we won't have a problem." I lifted my left hand so he could see that the gun wasn't in it then I put it back in the holster strapped to my right leg.

"Chris put the gun down… … so now will you tell me where you came from?"

"Just now… or in general?"

"Now who's being a smart ass… just now, we haven't seen another person in weeks,"

"I got here two weeks ago and I've been holed up in an old burnt out house just a mile or two that way."

"Derek's old place," he wasn't talking to me because I didn't know who the hell Derek was and he was also looking over my shoulder at the guy behind me.

"Look can I move now or are going to shoot me?" I asked, my hands still held up because I wasn't taking any chances. I did not survive the last four months just to get shot in the middle of the woods by two strangers. I finally heard the gun click and I let out a sigh of relief. "I was only trying to help, I heard someone yelling."

"Where?!" They were both suddenly very panicked. It must have been someone that was with them, maybe some weird three way thing.

"I don't know, I was hoping they would make some more noise but then he had to come sneaking up on me. It was a girl though." Me and the guy that had just had a gun held to my head quickly turned, guns drawn when someone came barreling out of the bushes next to us. It wasn't a crazy, just some redheaded women with a little girl trudging behind her. "Hey step away," I kept my gun pointed at her but the other guy had dropped his. Were they all that stupid, "Get away from the girl… she's been infected." Now they all looked panicked and anxious, could they really not see the symptoms she was showing.

"How do you know?" Red asked, being a little too slow to step away from the little girl.

"Are you all really that stupid?" I holstered my gun again and slowly approached the little girl. I had to see how far gone she was, I had to see if she had a chance of surviving this. "Hey sweetie," I gently whispered as I crouched down to her level. "How long have you been feeling sick?" I slowly and cautiously reached out to check her body temperature. She was already in the fervor stage; she had probably another twenty four hours maybe less.

"One of those bad people bit me… but I ran away like mommy told me." Great, this was looking more and more like a lost cause.

"How long ago was that honey?"

"Yesterday," So we still had time, I could save her. Finally I could do something right.

"We have to get her back to my camp right now!"

"But she's infected,"

"Yes and I have something that can help her," I slowly and gently picked her up and started walking away from the small group of strangers. I could care less about them right now; this little girl wasn't going to die on my watch.

"What are you talking about; there isn't a cure for this!"

"Are you just gonna keep talking out of your ass or are you going to follow me?!" We were only about a minute or two away, but I was still keeping a close eye on the little girl in my arms. She was very close to my neck and could easily lash out and bite. When we broke through the trees and came to the old burnt down house I quickly climbed the stairs with the three strangers right on my tail. The annoying blond one made a bee line straight for the almost full can of peaches I had been eating before.

"Oh god food… I am starving." God the guy was such an asshole.

"Hand me that bag," I sat the little girl down on an old rotted out couch and pointed out the small black pack to Red.

"What's in that bag that can help her?" The dude that held me at gun point asked. He was hard and very guarded. He must have lost people to this thing but he really needed to get over it because everyone had lost someone to this.

"It's something I took with me from my job, something that belonged to me but I only have one." I pulled the tin canister out and opened it to reveal a needle and a small vile of clear liquid. I had to synthesize it from the information I took for insurance reasons. They didn't know I had taken it but I was thanking my lucky stars I had. I rubbed the alcohol swab on the inside of her arm, "Sweetie you're probably going to feel a little pinch and it may burn a little at first but then you're going to feel all better okay." I was just about to load the syringe when a large and ruff hand grabbed my wrist, stopping me from saving this little girls life.

"What the hell is this?!" He pulled me up by my wrist, he was snarling in my face. If I didn't know any better I would say this guy was infected.

"It's a cure dumb ass but like I said I only have one now let me go so I can save her." When I saw him moving to grab the vile I pulled my gun out and had it aimed right at his head. "Don't even think about touching it. I made this and I am going to use it how I want."

"I'm sorry but we can't let you do that," he slowly growled out. He was right I was out numbered but I had a feeling he was the only one with any weapons training. I mean Red was in a pair of heels so I knew she wasn't a threat.

"Chris just let her go and maybe we can explain it to her." Red whispered, trying to reason with the crazy freak who still had his big beefy hand around my wrist.

"Come on she seems like a reasonable person so just let her go." Curly chimed in, at least he had stopped shoving his face full of food long enough to understand what was going on.

"You really think she would choose Stiles over this little girl?"

"Who the hell is Stiles?!"

"He's our friend… he got bit yesterday when the guys went out for food… he's been getting worse… … please you have to help him." She sounded like she was about to start crying. So there was more than these three that had survived. That was a slight relief because they were a pitiful group that wouldn't last long on their own.

"So you want me to choose between your friend and this little girl."

"Please… His dad… just… we can't lose him. We fought so hard to get him back and we can't lose him… please." God this couldn't be happening. I looked over at the little girl sitting there playing with the hem of her dirty dress and then I looked back at Red and saw the tears streaming down her face. I caught curly's eye and there was a silent plea there to.

I tried to pull my hand away from Mr. Crazy but he just gripped tighter, "Let me go so I can talk to the girl," I said calmly, trying to make it very clear that I wasn't going to be using the needle on anyone right now. "I just want to talk to her." When he let me go I knelt down in front of the little girl and took her little hands in mine. "Hey sweetie… what's your name?"

"Tanner Middleton," she whispered, her shyness taking over.

"Okay Tanner can you tell me where your mother is?"

"We were at home and then all of these bad people just came in… she was bitten too but they didn't stop." God this little girl had to watch her mother get ripped to shreds and they wanted me to just let her die.

"I'm sorry about that Tanner… do you have anyone else?" She just shook her head no. She was all alone in this horrible world. This was no place for a child to grow up but that still wasn't reason enough to just let her die. I turned back to the small group; I needed more information if I was really going to do this. "How long ago was this Stiles guy bit?"

"It was… probably around four,"

"am or pm?"

"pm… these things can't really move around very well in the dark."

"So it hasn't even been twenty four hours?"

"No,"

"What were his symptoms when you left him?"

"Fever, he was sweating like crazy and he couldn't really see very well." There was still time for him, not long. The virus was moving much quicker through his system than the girls. God, was this my punishment for what I helped do? I either let a little girl die or let a father watch his son die.

"It's okay… … the other boy can have it… I just want to be with my mommy again." When I heard those words leave her mouth I nearly passed out. I bit back the tears that were threatening to fall; no child should even know how to speak words like that. She was giving me permission to kill her, to just let her die. "His daddy needs him and I need my mommy."

I choked back the tears, "Tanner you are a very selfless little girl," I whispered pushing a strand of dirty hair behind her ear. I stood back up and let the three new strangers in my life watch me put the syringe and needle back into the tin and then back into my bag. Their friend's life was just saved by a tiny little girl and I hoped they would remember this for the rest of their lives. I motioned everyone to the other side of the room so I could talk to them in private. "I'm going to take her for a walk, there's food if you're hungry and water if you're thirsty… I'm taking this pack with me and then you are going to take me to your friend. I can't stay here anymore anyway, it's only a matter of time before it's over run with crazies, they would have heard the gunshots." I slung the pack over my shoulder and turned back to the little girls who life I was about to end.

"You don't have to do it… one of us could," curly jumped in grabbing me by the arm and stopping me from going anywhere. It was a nice gesture but this was my fault and it was my responsibility. What was one more name to the list of innocent people I let die?

"No I can do it, just eat… kick up your feet and relax; your friend's life will be saved." I pulled my arm away and walked back over to Tanner, "hey Tanner do you want to go pick some flowers for the little boy so he'll have something nice when he gets better?" I was trying to use a calm and gently tone, and I hoped to god she had no idea what I was about to do. She shyly shook her head yes and I let her take my gloved hand and we walked out the front door. I stopped for a minute and told her to wait for me, there was one more thing I had to do. I walked back into the burnt out house and nobody had moved a muscle. I dug through the pack by the door before I finally found what I was looking for, "here start digging while I'm gone, we won't have much time to get the hell out of here when I get back." I handed curly the fold out spade and then I tossed a regular one that was leaning against the wall at the man with the gun. They wanted me to choose their friend over this little girl then they were going to take part in burying her little body when I was done. "And Red there's a pair of boots in that bag over there so take off the damn heels… this isn't fashion week." I rushed back out hoping Tanner was still where I left her and she was. She was sitting on the end of the broken porch, swinging her legs over the side. I held my hand out and she reached for dragging me back into the woods.

"I know a perfect spot."She dragged me the whole way to this perfect spot. There were small bushes of flowers all over the place. She let go and ran over to one, picking as many as she could. She didn't look sick in this moment, she just looked like a normal little girl… no she looked like a little angel in her white dress with her blonde hair. I put a smile on my face when she turned back to me with a big smile on her face, showing me the flowers she had picked but it was gone as soon as she turned back around.

I walked a little closer since my aim wasn't that great and I didn't want her to suffer more than she needed to. I pulled my gun out and slowly raised it, aiming it right at the back of her head. "I think he's going to love those… maybe you should add some of the purple ones…" my voice shook like an earthquake but I tried to cover it and then I pulled the trigger when she reached over to pick the some more flower. Oh god oh god oh god…1 …2 …3 …1 …2 …3 Oh god… … I turned away from her little body, dropping the gun like it was on fire. Oh god…1 …2 …3 "GGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"I shook myself, wiped the tears from my face, and picked the gun back up and holstered it. This was the new reality we all lived in now; there wasn't any room in this world for tears. I walked back over and picked her little body up. No more tear and no more crying… man up and do what you have to do. I carried her back through the woods; I stopped right on the line of the trees to give myself a little bit of time to breathe. I looked down at the little lifeless body in my arms; she just looked like she was sleeping. She had a little peaceful smile on her face… she was free from this world and back in her mother's arms.

I trudged the rest of the way into the open and saw the three strangers standing around a pretty deep hole, the two guys were all sweaty and dirty, and Red was holding a small little cross made from two sticks. I didn't say anything and neither did they, I just walked over to the hole and kneeled so I could lay her in it. I shrugged my pack off and took the book of fairytales my mother gave me when I was little and laid it on her chest and then I took a handful of dirt and sprinkled it on top. I had to step away before I started crying again, I took the little cross out of Reds hand and walked over to the porch while the guys filled in the grave. I wanted whoever came across her to know she was here; I wanted people to know she was loved and cared about enough to get a grave so I picked up a smooth flat rock, took my knife out and started scratching her name into it.

"_Dis-moi comment tu fais ton feu… __Petite luciole, Dis-moi je veux savoir un peu… De ton secret… Oh, je serai discret, Petite luciole… Qui vole, qui vole…_" I quietly sang the lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was that little. It always succeeded in calming me down but this time it just made me think of all the missed lullabies Tanner would have.

I had her named carved into the stone and I was almost done tying the rope that was going to hold the stone on the cross when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was up on my feet and gun drawn before I even knew what was happening. It was curly; he held both his hands up trying to tell me he wasn't going to hurt me. "I just wanted to tell you we're done," I followed his slender finger in the direction it was pointing and saw the small mound of dirt.

I nodded my head and followed him over to the grave, sticking the little wooden cross at the head of it. "Repos maintenant de tout-petit," I whispered, touching the top of the cross before turning away and walking back to the burnt out house. "So how did you three get out here?" I asked not bothering to look back and see if anyone was following me.

"Bikes," gun man answered, it was short and sweet.

"There should be room on the back of mine for you and your stuff," Curly offered.

"No need, I'm parked a few miles west… I was just seeing if anyone needed a ride."

"Maybe you should ride with her, we don't have much gas left and we need to conserve what we do have." gun guy suggested to curly and I could tell he could probably survive anything.

"But what will we do with my bike?"

"I should have room in mine… follow me." I barked out as I slung the last pack over my shoulder and started off into the wood. "Balto!" I yelled, where the hell had that idiot gone off to?

"Who's Balto?" Red asked, looking around for someone to come walking out of the trees.

"The special man in my life," I whistled as loud as I could but he still wasn't coming, "Balto!" We weren't far from my car and I hoped he had found his way back there to guard the supplies.

"You didn't say you were with someone," curly spoke up this time, easily keeping stride with me as Red and Chris fell back to cover us.

"You didn't ask… Balto! … damn it where is that bastard?" We finally made it to my car and I heard gun guy let out a low whistle when his eye's landed on the trailer hooked to the back. I walked around the back of the trailer and unlocked it, nodding my head to the side of the door trying to tell curly to help me lower it. "I think that should be enough space," so maybe I was bragging but I worked hard as hell to build up this little treasure trove… and there was even more in the car.

"Oh yeah," they all whispered out in different states of shock and awe. "Let me be the first to apologize for pulling a gun on you," gun guy said, I could see the hunger in his eyes… all of their eyes actually.

"It's the end of the world; you have to do what you have to do… So you should go get your bike while I try and find Balto." They all nodded and headed off further to the west. "Balto… here boy… … mommies got a nice new yellow ball for you… … Batlo!" I whistled again and this time I heard his jingly little collar heading this way. He burst through some bushes, tongue out and tail wagging. I knelt down and ruffled his little head, checking to make sure he didn't have any kind of blood on him. "Good boy Balto, good boy." I cooed giving him a little scratch behind his ear. I heard the low rumble of a motorcycle; I guess that was gun guy and Red heading back to wherever they were staying.

All of a sudden Balto started growling and snarling at something behind me. Oh please not another one… I slowly brought my hand to my gun, "I would rather not have a gun pointed at my face again," oh thank god it was just curly… so why was Balto going crazy.

"Balto calm down," I whispered scratching behind his ear some more and rubbing at his head just trying to get his attention back on me. He's never had problems with strangers before. He started snapping and barking as curly came closer. "Balto stop it! … bad boy!" I scolded; opening the back door and grabbing him by his collar making him get in before slamming it closed. I don't know what was with that dog. "Sorry about that,"

"No problem… so the special guy in your life is a Siberian husky?" he asked clearly amused as we started hooking his bike up in the trailer.

"Yeah, I've had him for three years… present from an old friend, here." I handed him the other bungee so he could clasp it to the hook on the floor. "Come on we should really be getting to your friend." But he wasn't following me, he had stopped to stare at the three cases of energy drinks I had then he turned to me and just pointed at them, asking me if he could have one. "Go for it." he grabbed for a can like a puppy with a new toy. When I finally had his attention I started walking out of the trailer and had him help me close it back up. We really did need to get back to his friend; we had already prolonged it long enough.

"So what's your name?" he asked as we climbed into the front seat. Balto didn't react because he was too busy being passed out on his little doggy bed.

"Connor," I have never been one for small talk and it had become an even bigger thing in the last four months when I didn't have anyone but Balto to talk to.

Curly didn't waste any time in cracking open the energy drink and chugging half of it down. "God I haven't had caffeine in months," he breathed out in a very sated and satisfied way.

"Hey curly you might want to start telling me where I need to go," I snapped, the last thing I wanted was to get lost in a city I've never been in and being overrun by crazies.

"Oh yeah… sorry, uh… keep going straight and then turn left when you get to the end… and it's Isaac, not curly."

"My apologies… Isaac,"

"Uh… so where did you come from?"

"I thought we already had this conversation,"

"I mean before you got to Beacon Hills,"

"I started off in New York," I needed to watch what I said from this point. Up until now I didn't have to watch myself around anyone so there was never a risk of letting it slip that I actually worked for the people who created this thing, that I actually inadvertently played a part in all of this.

"So you were at the epicenter, turn here."

"Yeah, I managed to mostly stay ahead of it but then it just sorta spiraled and before I knew it Russia, Germany, the UK, even Australia. This thing is everywhere… well everywhere there's a living creature."

"Yeah it's crazy that it's only been four months."

"I think we're lucky it isn't worse. I mean most of the damage that's been done is from the people who aren't infected."

"Turn here and then you should see a really big brick building."

"Is there somewhere I can park this thing inside?"

"Uh yeah, I'm sure Chris probably left the door open, it's an underground garage… right here." I turned where he told me and saw who I was guessing was Chris standing next to and open garage trying to flag me down. Red wasn't anywhere in sight.

I pulled up right next to him, "Keep going straight up, try and park as close to the elevator as you can." Isaac hopped out so he could stick with Chris and I drove where he told me and I saw Red standing by the elevator doors with a short Hispanic kid that looked like he had a permanent scowl on his face. I parked my car and got out as the Red and Scowly met me by the trailer.

"Lydia told me you have something that can help Stiles."

"Well I don't know who Lydia is but yeah, lucky for your friend a little girl decided he should have it." I opened up the back door and hooked Balto on his leash so he wouldn't try and run off. He jumped out and immediately started snapping at Scowly and Isaac as he walked up behind them. This dog was losing his mind. "Heel Balto!" I jerked on his leash and he stopped and sat down at my feet. I pulled my bags out and slung them over my shoulder, "There are some bags in here that already have food and water in them so you can grab those and we can come back down later if we need anything else." I told the small group and Isaac and Chris reached into the back and hauled out the three duffels I had loaded with food and water. I strapped two swords to my back and holstered two more guns along with a couple of knives. You could never be too prepared. "Alright, take me to your friend." I followed the small group of four onto the elevator. We all rode up in silence; no one really had anything to say even though I knew they all had questions, everyone always had questions.

To say I was nervous was an understatement, I don't know how many people where actually up there and I really didn't know if they were good or bad. I had come across quite a few bad people in the last four months and that was why I stayed clear of people as much as possible. I knew there were at least two more people, this Stiles guy and his dad but other than that I was going in blind. Hell I still didn't know what the hell that Isaac guy was. I stole a quick breath before I followed them off the elevator and to a big steel door. Scowly reached over and jerked it open revealing a big open loft with great big windows. The room was full of people, at least a dozen people. They all stopped what they were doing and stared right at me with different emotions written on their face. It wasn't hard to find where the kid's dad was because almost everyone looked at me with suspicion but he had a hint of relief in his eyes.

"He's over here," Scowly whispered, pointing to a coach over on the far side of the room. I followed him, handing over Balto's leash to Red and the two guys hauled the supplies to the table by the window. As we got closer I slung the bag off my shoulder and pulled the tin out.

"Maybe I should handle this," some women interrupted, stepping in front of the kid.

"Mom it's okay." Well at least some things weren't as bad as I thought. At least this kid had his mom and the other one had his dad. I walked around the women and knelt down beside the couch. I took his hand to check his pulse then I opened his eyes to see if they had started to jaundice, but they looked pretty clear. I stretched his arm out and swabbed the inside of his arm.

"He's going to feel some intense pain at first but then he'll relax and probably sleep for a few hours and then he should be better." I loaded the needle before slowly pushing it in. His body immediately tensed and his mouth opened in a silent scream. "I need somewhere to dispose of this," the women from earlier held out a plastic bag so I dropped the needle and vial in it and stood back up. Everyone was still staring at me still not sure of how to take what was happening, then all of a sudden the man that looked relieved to see me stepped forward and stuck his hand out for me to shake.

I grabbed onto his hand, "Thank you for saving my son." I know he was just being sincere and trying to thank me but I still had the image of little Tanner in my head.

"Don't thank me sir, thank the little girl who chose to die so he could be saved." I walked around him and over to the original three I had met in the woods. "So I was going to stay here for a day or two and then I was going to head back out, you can keep the food and water I gave you… me and Balto can sleep down in the car."

"No, you should stay… there's plenty of room here." Isaac offered even though I knew he really didn't have a say. They had to have a leader who made these decisions so I wasn't going to accept anything that wasn't coming out of that person's mouth.

"He's right you should stay, I mean you saved my best friend and brought us food and water… there's no way we are going to let you go… I'm Scott by the way." He stuck his hand out for me to shake; man these people were all so formal for living at the end of the world.

I gripped his hand and shook it, "Connor… so uh… you're in charge around here?"

"Kind of… Isaac can show you where you can put your stuff and where you'll be sleeping… and maybe introduce you to everyone; I want to stay with Stiles."

"Okay, follow me." Isaac reached out and took one of my bags, pointing me in the direction of a spiral stair case. I followed him up and then down a hall, he stopped in front of one of many doors. "This is my room, everyone else already has a roommate so I'm sorry but you're stuck with me." There were worst fates I suppose. "Just put your bags there and I'll go introduce you to everyone." I sat my bags down where he told me and followed him back out.

"How many of you are here?"

"Well including you eighteen, there should be more but a lot of stuff happened."

"Yeah a lot of stuff happened to everyone."

"No I mean before this all happened but I think that's a story for another day… Uh this is Coach," he said putting his hand on a man shoulder. Well I could see why they called him Coach; he was dressed in a track suit and had a whistle hanging around his neck.

This Coach guys stood up from the chair and pulled me into a big hug, "I love you, you sweet beautiful cherub angel with the sweet sweet food." I had no idea what I should be doing so I just stood there and let this ogre of a man hug me.

"Alright Coach that's enough," he pried the guys arms off of me and moved me out of touching distance. "Sorry about that… Coach can be a little intense sometimes… uh over there we have Ethan and Danny, they're together. You already met Lydia, Chris, Melissa, Scott, Stiles, and the sheriff… and of course me… um then there's Kira over there… Deaton is the one looking Stiles over right now… … uh the girl with the short hair talking to Lydia is Meredith, I don't really know much about her though… … Derek is probably up on the roof right now so you can meet him later, that over there doing pull ups is his sister Cora… … the one reading a book over there is his creepy uncle, Peter… and last but not least there is Malia, she's the one who looks just like Peter, sitting over there." Man this was all very intimidating and a lot to take in. There were so many people; I mean how did all these people survive in one place for four months.

"Okay I'll try and remember all of that… so now for me to ask a question… back in the woods you… I don't really know what… … what the hell are you?" as soon as I asked the question five pair of eyes landed on me.

"I think maybe that's something we should talk about later, when everyone isn't focused on something else… look we're not going to hurt you."

"That's just what the killer said before he kills someone."

"Hey Isaac maybe you should tell Derek about what's going on." Scott interrupted, "and take her with you."

"Okay, follow me." Well it's not like I had any other choice right now, I looked around for Balto to make sure he was okay and I saw Red and Meredith, I think, rubbing his belly and giving him a lot of attention so I turned back around and followed Isaac out of the loft door and down the hall to a door marked Rooftop Entrance. We must have been pretty high up already because it didn't take long for us to reach the top. I didn't see anyone when he opened the door but this was a pretty big place. "Derek," Isaac called out before sniffing the air like a dog. Okay so this was just getting weirder by the minute, I followed him around the side of a brick wall and there sitting on one of the air conditioners was one of those tall dark and handsome types, nothing but cool bravado and brood. "Hey Derek, Scott sent me to get you… that girl Lydia told you about is here." He turned around and gave me a once over before standing up and walking towards us.

"How's Stiles?"

"He should be out for a couple of hours but he'll be fine when he wakes up." I answered even though he wasn't asking me.

"Thank you," it was short and sweet with nothing else attached. "I was told that this came at a horrible cost so I'm sorry… but I'm also very grateful."

"Yeah… well let's not dwell on that."

"Yeah she also brought food and water… lots of food and water."

"The miracle that keeps on giving aren't ya."

"I also have some medical supplies and gas." The smile on his face just kept getting bigger and bigger. He pushed Isaac out of the way and slung his arm over my shoulder.

"I don't think we're going to give you back… welcome to the pack Connor." Wait how the hell did he know my name… why was he calling it a pack… … what the hell have I just walked into here.

* * *

("_Dis-moi comment tu fais ton feu… __Petite luciole, Dis-moi je veux savoir un peu… De ton secret… Oh, je serai discret, Petite luciole… Qui vole, qui vole…_") - **"Tell me how you make your fire... Small Firefly, tell me I want to know a little... Your secret... Oh, I'll be discreet, small Firefly... Flying, flying..."**

("Repos maintenant de tout-petit,") - "Rest now little one,"

(Lullaby – www thesecretmountain com / node / 115)


	2. Chapter 2

**So this is my second stab at a fanfiction and it is very different from the first one. I don't know how you guys are liking this idea since not many of you read the first Chapter but since this idea won't get out of my head I am going to continue it anyway. Since I don't know how people are taking it I will not post a new Chapter until I get at least five reviews and I know it sounds douchie to say that but I really need to know what people are liking and what they're not so I can adjust things accordingly and I just love hearing from all of you. I haven't set any one particular couple in this because there are so many different factors but Connor and Isaac will be set, I don't know when it will happen but it will, so if any of you have idea's for couples or pairings then send them my way and I will see how it works before deciding.**

**To the lone soul who favd this just know I see you and I appreciate you! **

**I should also tell you since this is an apocalypse type story people will die throughout since it's inevitable. I just thought I should warn you just in case. I haven't decided yet who I will be slashing off throughout it but just know it will be happening.**

**Outfits:** **www polyvore com / chapter / set?id = 116615485  
www polyvore com / chapter / set?id = 116851377**

* * *

**Chapter 2  
Werewolves, Banshees, Kitsunes WTF!**

**Cincinnati, Ohio; Day One:**

_"The infected party may start to experience flu like symptoms such as, sudden onset of fever, aches, chills, and tiredness. If bitten you might feel tingling or an itching sensations around the bite. As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, and insomnia. Then after twenty four hours of these symptoms appearing you will start to feel inexplicable bouts of sudden anger and rage as well as symptoms of cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, and confusion. Once the liver starts to fail and you see the signs of jaundice death is eminent!"_

I was already exhibiting flu like symptoms, I couldn't stop coughing and about an hour ago I started coughing up blood. It would seem I wasn't lucky enough to have escaped exposure. I threw the folder on the bed and shakily stood up. I probably only had a day left before there was no going back. I held the little vial up; if only I had time to make more I could have helped more people.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Four Days Ago; Two Days Before Exposure:**

_"I mean who would want to mess around with stuff like this anyway; did they not watch Resident Evil?"_

_"It's what people like this do Bill, they want to be one step ahead so they create the disease then they get to make a vaccine for it so if it ever actual appears out there they're first in line to make billions."_

_"But who would want to actually be around it in the lab, a new rabies virus… it's just sick, I mean have you seen the way the test subjects react and they're no closer to actually finding a workable vaccine."_

_"Well if you got paid the money the lab techs got paid you wouldn't be complaining."_

_"Yeah you would know kid genius… but I'm serious I heard that one of the apes literally ripped apart the other one that was sharing the cage. It was like he just got filled with this rage and went crazy."_

_"Don't believe all the water cooler gossip Bill."_

_"I just think they're playing with fire here Connor, they won't even tell us who came up with this thing."_

_"Yeah now that is weird but Bill this isn't the Umbrella Corporation." I left my paranoid co-worker; I had a meeting with my boss about moving forward with a working vaccine for this new virus._

_"But Thomas the girl has a right to know this, we can't just commission her to make a vaccine for something she helped create and not give her a cut… it isn't right!"_

_"Do you even hear yourself right now John! We are creating a deadly virus and this is where you are drawing the moral line?!"_

_"I just think she should get a cut of what we earn from this, it was her idea in the first place."_

_"No it was just an idea written about in a college student's thesis paper. She didn't even take it seriously."_

_Oh my god! How could I have not seen it sooner, I mean I just wrote that paper in like two days after two many cups of coffee, and he was right I didn't take it seriously. They had taken my idea and made it a reality and I didn't have a clue. Screw this meeting; I walked back down to my office next to the lab. How could they take credit for my idea like that, I thought this was a highly respectable place. I know I was probably young and naive since everyone here is older than me but I never thought they would be capable of stealing ideas from their employees._

_"Connor we're heading out,"_

_"Yeah see you tomorrow Alex,"_

_What the hell was I going to do? I couldn't just help them great a vaccine for something that was my idea. They would get all the credit and I would still be stuck down here on lab duty which wasn't fair since it was my idea to start with. I looked over everything, all the information I had gathered about a possible vaccine. This new virus was really nothing but an extreme case of rabies, it moved through the system much quicker and the rage and anger was far more extreme. I took my folder into the lab and started working on a possible vaccine. I was still going to do my job but I was going to take this vaccine with me, if they wanted a vaccine then they were going to give me the credit I deserved or I was going to out the whole company on the horrible things they actually did here._

_I put some contaminated blood under a microscope and started adding different types of prophylaxis to it, seeing which ones actually had an effect. After nearly three hours and three different blood samples later something amazing happened. I had just put the second prophylaxis in the blood right after I had put the normal rabies vaccine in and the white cells started attacking the mutated ones… … … I think I just created a vaccine for this thing. I took a step back… this was amazing! I started gathering everything I needed. I had to synthesize this thing now before they threw me out._

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

I only had time to create two vials before security told me I had to leave. I spent at least six hours in that lab and I only succeeded in making two… but at least I had previsions now since I was now one of the infected. I swabbed the inside of my arm before administering it. "Oh fuck!" the burning, why did there have to be burning. "Shit, shit, shit!" I stumbled over to the other bed in the room trying to steady myself. I could see black dots in my eyes and the room was starting to spin but the pain was the worst thing I had ever felt in my entire life. I didn't know if this was actually going to work since I didn't have time to test it, so at this point it was either going to be a hit or miss. Either I was going to wake up disease free or I would turn into one of those rage fueled monsters and start ripping people to shreds.

* * *

**Beacon Hills:**

I was convinced I had just walked into the middle of a bunch of escaped mental patients. No one had actually told me anything but they were all giving me side long looks, like they knew something I didn't and it was unnerving to say the least. Curly had left me to have some kind of pow wow with a couple of the other guys, so now I was sitting on a coach next to the two love birds who hadn't taken their hands off of each other since I walked in here; Eric and Dennis… or something like that. Well at least they could find something romantic about the end of the world.

"I was told you are the one that saved Stiles?" Davis… I think, asked me.

"Well I was the one with the vaccine yes,"

"May I ask how you got your hands on something like that?"

"I made it."

"How?" God this guy was so nosy.

"Well to save face I guess I should be honest… I was commissioned to work for the company that created this thing; they wanted me to create a vaccine so they could make millions." I had to keep some things to myself.

"And you only made one?" it was starting to sound like he didn't believe a word I was saying.

"I didn't really have time to make more; they were going to rip me off so I took the two vials I made as insurance… then a couple of days later all of this happens?"

"You had two?"

"I had to use one on myself,"

"So you were infected?"

"Obviously… look what's with the twenty questions?"

"I'm just a naturally curious person, and we don't really have a great track record with strangers around here."

"Well everyone's a stranger until you get to know them… and I've got nothing to hide." If only that were the truth.

All of a sudden there was a sharp gasp from the couch on the other side of the room and everyone rushed over and crowded around Skittles… I think, I was pretty sure that was it, or something like it. I slowly stood up from the coach but I stayed back. "Stiles," oh it was Stiles, okay. "Stiles how do you feel?"

"Uh… a little light headed… … but… uh I feel better… what happened?" I pushed my way through so I could check and make sure everything was okay. "Uh who are you?"

"No one special," I pulled a stethoscope out of my pack and placed it over his heart. It sounded fine; I grabbed his wrist to check his pulse. It was a little fast but not abnormally so.

"Let me see where you were bitten?" he pulled up his pant leg, showing me the gauze around the wound. I pulled out some more gauze and some anti bacterial medicine. "You're fine, but now you just have to worry about it getting infected if you don't take care of it… can someone get me a clean wet cloth." I cut the old gauze off and checked the bite for any signs of infection

"So do I get a name?"

"Connor,"

"Here," I took the cloth from Melanie… I think, and started cleaning the bite mark.

"So are you a doctor or something?"

"No… this might sting a little," I poured some peroxide on it and like I thought he tried to jerk it out of my grip. I pulled it back, tightening my grip on his calf. After I cleaned it out with some peroxide I snapped on a pair of gloves before I swabbed it with antibiotic ointment and wrapped some clean gauze around it. "Make sure you change it and clean it every day." I dumped the gloves and old gauze into the bag Melanie had in her hands and stood back up so his friends could cuddle in around him.

Now that all the excitement was over I took a look at myself. My jacket was covered in blood and I was absolutely filthy. I would really kill for a shower right now. I decided I would sneak back down to the car while everyone was busy. I had something that would make the rest of this day a little better.

"Where are you going?" Curly breathed out as he ran to catch up with me.

"I'm covered in dirt and blood, I need a shower."

"How… how are you going to take a shower?"

"It's the twenty first century Curly, it's wonderful to see all the truly useless shit people have invented and one of those things is a solar heated, camp shower… which I managed to get my hands on."

"I think you are now going to be Lydia's new favorite person." I just laughed at that and popped open the back of the car.

"So do you think you can carry a 10 gallon jug of water?" he just laughed, but I was actually very serious. It took me everything I had to lug these things in here.

"Yeah piece of cake," he easily picked up the big jug and hoisted it on his shoulder. So this was just getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

"Okay Schwarzenegger," my display was a little more pathetic. I dragged the second one out and it hit the ground with a loud thump. I lifted it up about two inches off the ground and followed Curly back to the elevator. He was laughing the whole way there which just kind of pissed me off a little. I finally got to put it down when we got in the elevator. "Laugh it up Curly, laugh it up."

"So where are you going to set up this shower of yours?"

"Probably up on the roof, it's a solar shower after all."

"Sounds reasonable… but maybe I should carry that thing up the stairs."

"Okay like you can really carry twenty gallons of water up a flight of stairs."

"Just give it to me," he grabbed the other jug and easily lifted it onto his other shoulder.

"Okay I'm being serious this time, what the hell are you?"

"You only have to wait a few more minutes to find out… so where are we going to hook this thing up?"

"I have no idea… uh here should be perfect… … radioactive spider?"

"What?"

"Were you bitten by a radioactive spider?"

"No, no radioactive spiders, I wasn't born on Krypton, not a super soldier or a billionaire philanthropist orphan." Okay so someone was a bit of a comic book nerd. We just set up the little shower in silence while I tried to think of other explanations for everything I had seen in the past few hours.

"Gamma radiation?"

"I'm not the Hulk either… just be patient." He picked one of the jugs again, helping fill the five gallon bag. I mean what was the big secret and why couldn't he just tell me now. "So now that that is done… do you want to know before or after your shower?"

"I'm filthy so I guess I can wait a few more minutes, but I need clothes so let's go… … Asgard?"

"As flattering as that is, I am not a Norse God."

"Vampire?"

"Nope… just stop guessing please."

"Hey where did you two go?" David… I think, asked, when we got back to the loft. I would leave it to Isaac to fill him in. I went the way I remembered Curly taking me so I could get a change of clothes. I heard a squeal of delight as I was digging through my bag for a clean set of clothes and a towel. It may have been the end of the world but I was still going to partake in some simple creature comforts. I took all my weapons off, only leaving the gun. There was no way I was going to be walking around anywhere without some kind of protection.

"So what else do you have in that magic trailer of yours?" David asked as I walked back down the stairs?

"How bout I show you all tomorrow, after everyone gets better adjusted to all the changes."

"That sounds fair," he walked back over to… … Stiles and sat down next to him and … … Scott.

I saw Red bouncing towards me so I quickened my pace to avoid anymore conversations, but she was a quick little thing. "Promise me you aren't going anywhere?" She asked a big smile on her face.

"Well I can't promise you that… but I can promise you get dibs on the next shower." She squealed in delight before following the same path as David and sitting next to S and S. I was finally in the clear, I practically ran out of the loft and up the stairs to the roof so there wasn't even a slight chance someone could stop me and try to drag me into another conversation.

I stripped off all my clothes, leaving my bra and panties on and started to wash away the past few days; all the dirt, grime, and blood… most of which was little Tanners. God I was going to hell in a hand basket. I helped jump start the end of the freaking world and then I just killed a five year old girl. I stood there with a gun to her head and I pulled the trigger. It wasn't the first time I had killed… but it was the first time that they were still laughing and talking… someone who was still capable of showing happiness. She was just a little girl with so much life left ahead of her. I scrubbed at my skin harder and harder… I just needed to wash it all away, to scrub it off of me. I felt filthy, so filthy, filthy to the core of who I was. I shut off the little shower and dried myself off as much as I could before I pulled on the fresh clean close.

I sat down on the industrial sized air conditions and looked out over the small city of Beacon Hills. You could see the smoke from all the small fires that had started and were left to burn since there wasn't anyone left to put them out. It was shocking to see what could happen to the world in three, almost four months. It was like I was watching a movie it was that bad. Most of the damage that had been done out there was by the people who just panicked… they didn't know what was going on so they started looting and rioting… they started doing what they had to do to protect themselves.

I heard a pair of laughing girl walking this way; I'm guessing Red got a little impatient. "Hey we didn't know if you were done so we took a guess… um I took some of you clothes I hope you don't mind."

"No that's fine… here," I threw her the towel that I had just used. "There should be plenty of water for both of you."

"Uh… do you think you could keep an eye out while we…"

"Yeah sure… it's right around there," They walked around the little brick wall to where the little shower was. So I had been put on guard duty as Red and Kara took their shower but I couldn't complain really. The view up here was amazing; the sun was about an hour away from setting. I took to twirling the gun around my finger as I waited for the girls to get done. I saw Curly take a seat next to me on the air conditioner but he didn't say anything, "So are you the one they sent to tell me the truth?"

"They felt that you trusted me more than them."

"I don't trust anyone Curly; I mean I know you just as much as them."

"Yeah well it was either creepy Peter or me. Ethan's busy with Danny, Cora's not very sociable, and Scott and Derek are busy with Stiles."

"Okay so what the hell are you… glowing yellow eyes, sharp teeth, my dog hates you, and super strength… am I missing anything." He grabbed my hand and it took all of my power not to rip it right back. He laid it palm down on top of his then locked his finger in my, only he had long sharp claws protruding from the ends of them. I started to panic and jerked my hand out of his and turned to look at him and the glowing yellow eyes were back.

"What do you think I am?"

"I don't have a clue, that's why I keep asking!"

"Okay, well Scott, Derek, Peter, Cora, Ethan and I… we're, uh… we're werewolves," I couldn't help but laugh at that. Werewolves at the end of the world, yeah okay like that was probable. "And Malia is a werecoyote… Kira's a Kitsune… let's see… uh, oh yeah and Lydia and Meredith are both Banshee's… … oh I almost forgot, Deaton… he's an emissary or Druid, something like that." What the hell was this Twilight! Werewolves and banshee's… … druids and kitsunes… … I mean was he fucking with me, I was inclined to believe he was just messing with me… but why would he come to me with all of this as the truth about what was going on around here.

"Prove it," He just laughed, stood up, and let out a loud growl… holy shit! It was the same thing I saw out in the woods; the yellow eyes, the sharp teeth, and the hair… it was like he was dog boy. I stood up in all my wonderment and stepped closer to him. The first thing I did was touch his pointy ears; it was kind of amusing really when you thought about it. He had cute little pointing dog ears, like Balto. I moved on to his scrunched up nose, it kind of looked like the vampires from Buffy and Angel, all wrinkly and scrunchy. I couldn't help but laugh, and that just confused the hell out of him. "I'm sorry I'm not laughing at you, it's just… it's just… … you look ridiculous. Like a dog boy." His face fell; oh I had hurt his little wolfy feelings.

"Well you're certainly taking this all very well." He pouted as he sat back down with a huff.

"Oh come on now Curly, I said I wasn't laughing at you… it's just I have killed over a hundred rage fueled monsters, I've seen thousands of dead and mutilated bodies, and I've seen people being ripped apart… I'm sorry if I'm not running and screaming because you're a supernatural creature from Twilight." I sat down next to him, trying to get my laughing under control.

"Okay point taken… so you're not going to ask about the other things I told you?"

"Oh, uh… banshee and kitsune?"

"Don't forget werecoyote and druid."

"Oh but of course… … well no I don't need to ask."

"Why?"

"A banshee or 'bean de na mullóga fairy', is a female spirit in Irish mythology… usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the underworld, the wailing women. You hear her scream when death is near… she has a connection to death and the dead… … the kitsune is a spirit, a fox spirit to be exact. There are thirteen different kinds; wind, earth, fire, river, heaven, thunder, mountain, void, spirit, time, forest, ocean, and music… but there are only two classifications; Zenko which literal means "good foxes", they are benevolent celestial foxes associated with the god Inari, sometimes called Inari foxes, and then there is Yako which literally means "field foxes", they are commonly referred to as nogitsune and they are the mischievous or sometimes even malicious foxes… … have I missed anything?" He was just looking at me like I had suddenly sprouted three new heads.

"Uh… werecoyote… and uh… druid,"

"Oh right, well I'm assuming a werecoyote just means she turns into a coyote, kind of how you turn into wolf boy… and a druid is of Irish and Celtic legend too… A druid was a member of the priestly class among the Celtic peoples of Gaul, Britain, and Ireland. There's not a lot actually know about the druid people or druidism as a religion… but they are very different than emissaries, because an emissary is like a representative or agent… someone sent on a particular mission. You can even call them spies or secret agents… now have I missed anything?"

"Okay how do you know all of that… and where were you four months ago?"

"Books are a fascinating thing dear Curly… …. so this little group… is it some kind of supernatural support group?"

"Well not all of us are supernatural, it's kind of an even split."

"Do they all know?"

"Yeah, we took our time telling them… Coach freaked out the most though… but now he's just relieved there are people who can go out and get food without getting killed or infected."

"So you and your wolf friends are like… immune to this thing?"

"Yeah… Kira too,"

"Lucky you,"

"So is there anything else you know about the supernatural?"

"Oh loads, but I think the girls are done and I am starving so we will shelf this discussion for later." I stood up and put my gun in the waistband of my jeans. "Are you coming Curly?" He jumped up off the air conditioner and followed me back inside. "We should set up some buckets up here to catch the rain water." I noted as we walked across the roof.

"Why?"

"So we have extra water to clean the clothes and stuff… plus it's not that hard to make a filter, it would supplement the drinking water we have."

"Okay are you some kind of like child prodigy?"

"Actually if you want to see it that way, yes I was." All the heads turned toward us as we walked back into the loft. They were all looking at me, gauging and testing my reactions to them. I just ignored all the looks and went over to the table where all the food and water was laid out and grabbed two cans of peaches, a bag of beef jerky, and a couple of bottles of water, then headed up the stairs to my new room so I could eat in private.

I sat all my stuff on the wooden desk that was shoved in the corner and pulled my journal out of one of my other bags before sitting on top of the desk. I opened one of the cans and stuck a plastic fork in it before turning back to start writing down my day. Some people might say my behavior was a little snooty, that I thought I was better than everyone else… but in reality I was just a loner. I have always been a loner. When you move around a lot you don't really get a chance to make a lot of friends. I looked over to Balto, who was asleep on Curly's bed; someone must have put him in here. Balto had been my only real friend these last three years but even he would leave me some day.

I decided I should write down everyone's name but the only problem was I didn't remember them; I would have to have Curly tell me again. I felt a little awkward sitting in here all by myself because I knew they were talking about me in the other room, and it never feels good to know people are talking about you when you're not there. I sat my journal down and started eating, the last time I ate was last night and I was so freaking hungry. As soon as I took the last bite of peaches there was a knock on the door, "Can I come in?" it was a soft voice, timid… I'm pretty sure it was the guy who had gotten bit… something starting with an S.

"Sure," he came in but couldn't find me at first.

"Oh, didn't see you over there… uh I just wanted to say thank you… … no one will really tell me how you saved me... but thank you."

"I'm not the one you should be thanking,"

"Oh… but they said,"

"Tanner… she wasn't more than five… … your friend, the one with the red hair found her in the woods… she was bitten too. I was going to save her… … but she didn't want that."

"What?"

"Well the big rough man with the gun stopped me from saving her… … she overheard your friends talking about saving you, she made a choice… she chose to save you and die." He looked sick to his stomach as he stumbled back into the wall.

"She's one of them now?"

"No… … I took her to pick some flowers for you… … then I shot her in the head." I could see him get physically paler at what I was saying. His friends may be okay with coddling him but I think he needed to know at what cost his life came.

"God I am so sorry… you should have just saved her… … you shouldn't have listened to them."

"It wasn't my decision… it was hers."

"But she was just a little kid!"

"Yeah, and she said she wanted to be with her mother again… that your dad needed you and she needed her mom."

"God, I'm sorry you had to do that… … I mean we have to kill people if we want to stay alive, I get that, but… … but she was just a little kid."

"Life moves on man, you have to pick yourself up and carry on… she wasn't the first and she won't be the last."

"Yeah… I'll just… I'll leave you alone now." He stumbled back out of the room, using the wall to keep himself up. If he was expecting to survive any longer he needed to grow a thicker skin, they all did. I opened the bag of beef jerky and started chowing down as I dug through one of my bags looking for the book I was reading last, it was one of my mother's old field journals, the reason I knew so much about all the legends and myths out there. I plopped down on the bed next to Balto and got comfortable, well as comfortable as I could be in a strangers bed, surrounded by people I didn't know.

... ... ...

~ February 13th 2007 ~

_Reptilians__ (also called reptoids, reptiloids, or draconians) are purported reptilian humanoids that play a prominent role in science fiction, as well as modern ufology and conspiracy theories. The idea of reptilians on Earth was popularized by David Icke, a conspiracy theorist who says shape-shifting reptilian people control our world by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate our societies. Icke has claimed on multiple occasions that many of the world leaders are, or are possessed by, reptilians ruling the world._

_... ... ..._

Seriously the things this women spent her life chasing. She would be in heaven right now, knowing that werewolves and banshees were real. She was a mostly sane woman but sometimes I read things like this and it just blows my mind and makes me reconsider her sanity. She died chasing after reptilians; man wasn't that just the cherry on top. I flipped through the pages, looking at all the weird creatures she spent her life looking for. The yeti, big foot, nessie, the kraken, mermaids… I could literally go on. Some of it wasn't that bad, some of it was actually legitimate, animals thought to be extinct, stuff like that.

"Hey you're still awake?"

"Yeah, I don't really sleep a lot anymore… here let me move so you can have your bed back."

"Ah no that's alright, I'm on guard duty tonight… I just came to check on you,"

"Well I'm fine… do you need a guard buddy?"

"No that's alright, you need your sleep."

"I'm not tired," I got up and put my book back in my bag before grabbing my gun and a couple of knives and a sword.

"A little over kill don't you think."

"You have claws, super strength, and immunity… I have guns, knives, and swords." I followed him out of the room trying to make as little noise as possible. There were a few people scattered around the main room, some on the couches, and some in sleeping bags on the floor. I stepped over the crazy looking one that was hanging around Red earlier. When we stepped out of the room Curly gently closed the door, leaving it ajar.

"God this is going to be a long night," he sighed as he sat down on the top step of the stair case.

"Come on Curly; let's go get a buster for ya." I pulled on his sleeve to get him to stand up and follow me down the stairs. I had enough caffeine to keep someone awake for more than a week. We slowly and cautiously made our way down the stairs. "Do you have like super hearing too?"

"Yeah,"

"Good,"

"So, Deaton says you worked for the people who made this thing,"

"Yeah… they were a medical lab… they mostly created vaccines and antibiotics for certain diseases and illnesses… companies like that, they stay a step ahead of the market, they create diseases so they can corner the market on the cure. I was hired to come up with a vaccine for it; I only had time to synthesize two before it got out."

"Were you there when it happened?"

"Yeah I was… it was a lab accident, it got out through the vents… this shouldn't have gotten out, they had a failsafe incase a deadly virus got into the vents but some of us got out before the building was locked down."

"Were you infected?"

"Yeah… I was already in Ohio when the symptoms started showing."

"And you didn't think to warn anybody about what was happening?"

"There was nothing anyone could do. The people that got out could have easily infected numerous people and then they would pass it on, and so on and so forth. Nothing was going to stop this thing… here we'll use the door." I unlocked the side door and stepped in, Curly right behind me. "Hey go grab a empty bag from the car." I handed him my keys while I started going through some of the stuff we could use upstairs.

"Here you go." I took the bag from his hand and put the coffee press in it… I think some of the guys upstairs could use their coffee fix. I saw Curly going through some stuff on his own, his big puppy dog eyes taking everything in. "What medication do you have?"

"A little bit of everything, why?"

"Well Stiles has ADD, and he has a tendency to drive us all crazy. He ran out about a week ago."

"Uh, adderall should be in that bag over there… I only have two bottles of it though… it's good if you want to stay awake for awhile." I threw in some sweets; everyone could use a sugar rush every now and then. "Alright grab your caffeine and let's get back." He grabbed a whole case of energy drinks which just made me laugh. I grabbed one of the smaller bags of dog food for Balto and locked up the trailer.

"How did you get all of this stuff anyway?"

"I just picked it up along the way. I never thought I would use most of it but once things started getting really bad I just figured I could use it to trade. Everyone needs a little creature comfort in their life."

"Well don't be surprised when everyone wants to lock you up and never let you go."

"That's kidnapping… and it's not like I have anywhere important to be..." I sat down my bag as Curly sat down the case of sugar and poison. We both sat down, our backs against the wall by the door, right in front of the stairs.

"So what did you do before all of this?"

"Collage then I moved on to work, after that it was pretty much the same thing every day, work, home, work, home."

"Sounds fulfilling,"

"Well it's not as exciting as werewolves, banshees, and kitsunes but I actually liked it."

"No I was being serious; I would give anything to have a life like that."

"Well now that's just kind of sad,"

"Yeah well my life is just kind of sad… … so earlier… you told Stiles the truth… about what happened?"

"I've never been one for coddling… so yeah I did,"

"It's just… he's been through a lot… before all of this happened and we've been trying to kind of… I don't know… protect him I guess."

"It's a new world out there Isaac… everyone has been through a lot, nobody's loss is more important than anothers."

"Have you lost someone to this thing?"

"No, I got lucky… what about you?"

"No… my mom died when I was young, then my brother, and my dad was killed not that long ago."

"Sorry,"

"Ah don't be, he was a sick bastard."

"Okay then, I'm not sorry."

"Huh?" he huffed out, shrugging his shoulder, and taking a big gulp from his drink.

"What?"

"Well most people would want to know why I think it's okay that my dad was killed but you don't seem to care."

"Um okay… why do you think its okay that your dad was killed?" I was really confused; most people didn't like talking about their personal life. I know I never did.

"No I was just pointing out how odd it was."

"Okay so you don't want to talk about it?"

"Oh I don't really care… everyone already knows so I might as well tell you."

"Are you always this confusing Curly?"

"After my mom died my dad started drinking a lot and he would lose his temper, it was only yelling at first… sometimes he would slap me around but after my brother died it got worse. Camden was always his favorite and he just couldn't handle it. Everything I did wasn't good enough… after awhile knocking me around wasn't satisfying enough… that's when he moved on to locking me in an old freezer in the basement." I didn't know what to say to that. To me child abusers where the worst kind of people. The fact that you could do something like that to your own child, the one thing you are charged with caring for. I could tell by the look on his face that he had stepped right back there. That he was remembering what his dad had done to him.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Yeah me too, but I've learned to move on from it… after nearly being killed like a dozen times I decided to put it behind me."

"A dozen?"

"This is a crazy town,"

"Yeah sounds like it." I started fiddling with the locket around my neck as we fell into a comfortable lull of silence.

"What's that?" he asked pointing to my locket.

"Uh it was my moms," I unlatched it and handed it to him. He opened it, holding it closer to the light so he could see it better.

"That's your mom… but who is the other person?" he asked, knowing exactly who it was and clearly amused about what he was seeing.

"It's me you jackass." I jerked the locket back and latched it around my neck. "Stop laughing at me!"

"I'm not… no look, you… you were a cute kid."

"No I was a fat kid with braces and bad acne… I buried my loneliness in food and I didn't really have a reason to go outside and run around… stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry it's just you look nothing like that girl in the picture."

"Yeah well puberty does amazing things sometimes… I was always telling her to change that thing but she just loved that picture."

"A mother's love knows no bounds." He started laughing again and if he didn't shut up he was going to wake everyone up or I was going to shoot him.

"In case you forgot I'm the one with the deadly weapons, now shut up! Anyway I bet you were a weird looking kid… big ears and skinny as a pole… like Alfalfa!"

"Are you kidding, I was an adorable kid okay."

"No, Macaulay Culkin was an adorable kid… you were Alfalfa."

"Well at least I wasn't Augustus Gloop!"

I reached over and punched him right in the arm as hard as I could. "Oh you are such an ass hole! … Now just for the hell of it I am going to start calling you Mary Lightly… jackass."

"Oh so now I'm some creepy dude who wears ankle weights?!"

"Yes… that's what you get for calling me Augustus Gloop… now hand me one of those cans of poison… Mary."

"That can't carry on forever you know."

"Oh I think it can… Mary," I popped the top on the can and took a big swig. I was going on two days with no sleep and I was starting to feel it. "So Mary why don't you give me a run down on everyone, like things I should know about them."

"Oh god… okay um… Coach was a, uh… well he was a coach, lacrosse. He's loud and mean… then there's creepy Peter…"

* * *

**I hope you liked it, it will start to get more exciting when Connor starts to warm up to the gang a little more and then when secrets start to come out. If you didn't notice already she is very bad at remembering people's names.**

**Just to add I got all the information on the different myths from Wikipedia. The only translation you need in this chapter is _'bean de na mullóga fairy' _which is _'woman of the fairy mounds'._**

**Okay so I may be being a bit dickish but I won't be posting a new chapter until I get at least five reviews. Good or bad feedback, all is welcome, I just want to know what everyone thinks about it.**

**So I hoped you enjoyed it, please review, and thank you for reading!**

**XOX**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I am posting anyway, even though I only got four review. I guess the new set limit is four reviews before the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who has read this and plans to keep reading. There are two new character introduced in this chapter but one is more long term than the other.**

**Outfits: www polyvore com / chapter /set?id = 116851377**  
**www polyvore com / chapter /set?id = 117086558**  
**www polyvore com / mika _khorkov /set?id = 117669574 (New OC- Mika Khorkov)**

**You will get the name to the second OC in the next chapter and just so you know one of them will be around longer than the other and also there could possible be a major character death or two coming soon!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Coffee, Ferrets, and Going On a Run!**

**Day of the Outbreak:**

_"The virus starts off as an airborne strain, but after infection takes place it can be passed on from any form of blood contact." The automated voice read back to me. It was a presentation the bosses had put together for prospective buyers and other medical facilities. This was the only thing I didn't write about in my paper. It was always a stupid idea to mess around with airborne illnesses, but it was also the strongest form of infection. _

_"Those stupid sons of bitches!" _

_"Who are you talking to in here Connor?"_

_"Uh… no one Bill, no one… did you want something?"_

_"The profit reports for last quarter, Accounting says you didn't bring them up last night."_

_"Yeah sorry, I was a little preoccupied." I handed him the folder that he was asking for, hoping he would leave._

_"So have you made any progress on a vaccine?"_

_"No, no progress… did you need something else,"_

_"Hey watch it man!" Someone yelled inside the lab. God I was working with a bunch of idiots._

_"Be careful!" I yelled into the intercom system. The last thing we needed was for someone to drop a test tube._

_"I guess I'll leave you to it then," he said his peace and left. I looked back down at the folders for the '__lamortdel'humanité virus' or lmdh-11. The sick bastards thought they had a sense of humor naming it that. No wonder they kept everything on a need to know bases. There had to be only a handful of people who knew what this thing was even called and I wasn't even supposed to be one of those people._

_"Hey I said watch it!"God damn it, they're scientist and they insist on acting like hormonal halfwit jocks._

_"Johnson… Miller, do I need to separate you two?!"_

_"If you bump into me one more time I will rip that suit right off of you!" _

_"Try it pretty boy!" Seriously, they were going to have a shoving match in a room filled with a deadly virus._

_"Johnson, Miller, knock it off!"_

_"**Breach in zone two, Lockdown in progress…**" Shit, those two assholes just released a deadly virus into the air vents. I grabbed the folder I was looking at and ran, I ran as fast as I could. I wasn't going to be left for dead when this place locked down. Screw the affidavit I signed when I started working here._

_… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … _

**Waking Up After Vaccine:**

I heard a banging on my door and Balto was barking like crazy. I was a little lightheaded but it felt like my fever was gone. I stumbled over to the door and looked through the peep hole to see who it was. It was the desk manager. I opened the door as wide as it would go with the lock on it.

"You need to get your stuff and get out, just get the hell out! They're all going crazy! It's some virus; it was on the news last night! You have to get out of here!" He yelled in through the crack before running down the hall to the next room and doing the same thing. I ran over to my bag, shoving all the papers in them. I didn't need to pack anything since I didn't have the time to unpack anything. I hooked Balto to his leash, grabbed my gun and headed out the door. It didn't look like anything was up here, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I was halfway down the hall when I heard the screaming, it was the desk manager, and he was screaming bloody murder. This was the moment; I either turn back and help him or I keep walking and look out for myself…1 …2 …3 damn it! I tied Balto to the rail on the stairs and ran back down the hall. It was two rooms down from mine. I pulled my gun out and ran as quietly as I could. When I got to the room, the lady that was staying here had the guy pinned to the bed and he was putting up a fight. I didn't hesitate and I didn't flinch, I just pulled the trigger and put a bullet in her head. I had never fired a gun before and I had never killed someone.

"Are you okay?" I asked, walking over to check him over.

"She attacked me, she bit me!" oh god… I turned around, god I couldn't do this. It was one thing doing what I did to save him but it was only a matter of time before he became like her.

"I am so sorry, but I can't… I'm so sorry!" I turned and walked away. I guess this was the new world order. I had been out for two days and it had already made it to Ohio. God knows where else it had made it. I walked back to Balto and headed out to my car. I needed to try and get ahead of this and start stocking up on supplies before people got too panicked. It was officially the end of the world, and it was all my fault.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

**Beacon Hills; Morning:**

I was being pocked by something. God it was incessant, just this tap tap tap on my leg. I suddenly realized I was being pocked by something and I was up with my gun drawn before my eyes were even open. "Wooow, it's just me… … please lower the gun." I rubbed my eyes with my other hand and started to see the blurry shape of the other S guy... Scott or something like that, I put my gun back in my waistband and tried to clear my vision. "I didn't mean to scare you… Isaac didn't think we should wake you but everyone's getting a little antsy." God was everyone this cheery in the morning.

"Uh it's okay… I brought some more stuff up last night,"

"Yeah that's why everyone is a little worked up; I said we should wait before we looked through it." I just ran my hands through my rat nest of hair and followed him into the loft.

"Finally!" Someone shouted from beside me, but I was too busy trying to find my bearings to care who it was. I saw the bag I had brought up laying on the table that the food was set up on.

"Uh where's my dog?"

"Isaac and Derek took him outside, he was getting a little excited and they thought he probably had to go out."

"Oh okay… um," I was still half asleep but maybe they would leave me alone if I showed them everything I brought up, "do you guys have some kind of like gas grill or somewhere you have like a fire."

"We usually build a fire out on the balcony, why?"

"Do you think someone could start boiling water?"

"Why?"

"Well does anyone want coffee?" Literally everyone shouted yes, or raised their hand, or both. "Um the bottles are 16 ounces so one bottle will make 2 cups… so just uh… take a head count and boil accordingly." I pulled the coffee press out of the bag and sat it to the side. "Uh… Nutella, peanut butter, jelly, bread… uh cookies, crackers, chips… uh some fruit," I named off each thing as I pulled it out and laid it on the table. "Some bottles of orange juice, grape juice, apple juice, pineapple juice… if coffee isn't your thing I have tea bags… uh… so yeah… go crazy." I got out of everyone's way, making sure to grab the coffee press and coffee, and headed for the balcony where gun guy was boiling some water.

"Whoever said you couldn't have coffee at the end of the world, right?"

"Yeah well no harm in a little creature comforts." I started measuring out the coffee ground and putting them in the press. Melanie came out carrying a lot of cups, I counted each one that was there and added the grounds accordingly. Some people would have to wait for theirs.

"Uh do you have a spoon or a knife I can use to stir this?" She just nodded and headed back inside.

"I think you're the first person to come to this town and bring nothing but good things."

"Oh really, do you guys have the worst luck around here or something."

"Yeah we do,"

"Then I guess I should fit right in." He lifted the pot and started pouring until it was full. I let it sit there since it had too steep for a few minutes.

"So Isaac filled you in on some things?"

"Uh not everything… but yeah, some things… he kept mentioning something that happened before the shit hit the fan but he never went into detail about it."

"Yeah that was a bad time for all of us." Why did they keep saying that, what the hell happened here that was so horribly bad? I started to stir the coffee and then I put the finishing touched on it. It wasn't going to be perfect but it was still coffee. I poured eight cups, which was as much as this thing would make and headed back inside. It only took 0.6 seconds for all eight cups to disappear and I was headed back out to make more. I poured a little water in it so I could clean out the old grounds and then I threw it over the side. I measure out some more before repeating the process.

"So what did happen here if you don't mind me asking?" but judging from the look on his face he did mind me asking. "Never mind, it's none of my business." I went back to coffee detail and we both worked in silence. When the next round was done I handed him one of the cups and headed back in to give the rest out. They were gone just as quickly as the first round. "Do Isaac and Derek like coffee?" I asked, it wouldn't be fair if we just left them out.

"Yeah, you might want to make them some." … … Scott said around his cup so I headed back out, grabbing a tea bag from the table on my way; I was never really a coffee person. I leaned against the balcony and watched the early morning sun rising over all the buildings.

"Hey do you see that?" There was movement about a hundred yards away in one of the building. I pulled gun mans attention away from the fire so I could get his opinion. I wasn't sure if it was just another infected or something else, "its right over there… right there… in the window."

"I don't know… here," he handed me a pair of binoculars that he pulled out of god knows where. I took them and started looking in all the windows. I knew it wasn't just sunlight bouncing off of them because the sun was rising in the opposite direction.

"Can you see it?"

"There's definitely something over there… but I can't see whether it's just another infected or not… there's two of them… … one's bigger than the other… … no no… there's thre, wait… four… there's four now… … shit!" I dropped the binoculars and ran back into the loft and then right back out. There was someone in that building and they were being over taken by some crazies. I slowed down once I hit the street so I wouldn't draw to much attention to myself.

The streets looked quiet for right now but it was light out now and the infected would be able to see better. "Hey what are you,"

"SHHH!" I shushed Isaac before he could get any more out.

"One of you take Balto back inside, the other follow me." I whispered.

"What's going on?" Derek asked, pushing Isaac back to the building.

"There's someone in that building over there… they're being over taken by some infected." I started off to the building, Derek in toe. We quickly but quietly made our way inside.

"Do you think this is really worth it?"

"If they're still alive… then yes… yes I think it's worth it." I crept forward on the stairs trying to keep an ear out for any kind of noise. "It was the second floor… … hey you have that super hearing thing, can you hear anything?"

"About five heartbeats… they're all pretty fast… but one of them is just fear." We finally made it to the second floor but I couldn't hear any movement.

"Hear anything now?"

"This way," We walked around one of the office dividers and there they were, four infected. "I thought you said you saw someone else?"

"I did… move!" I yelled as one came charging toward us. It only took one clean sweep and its head went flying off, which drew the attention of the other three… man they're quick little sons of bitches. Before I knew what was happening one of them had knocked me to the ground and was trying to tear into my flesh and hit me in the face. "Why couldn't it be a zombie apocalypse?!" I felt around for the knife I always kept strapped to my ankle but I was having a hard time doing that and holding this thing back. "A little help over here werewolf man!"

"I'm a little busy right now!" God seriously how hard can it be for a werewolf to fight a couple of infected people? I finally, finally felt the handle and I pulled it out and shoved it right through the bottom of its head, turning my head to avoid any kind of blood contact. "Do you think you can use one of those knifes of yours?"Derek yelled, it would seem he was having a little trouble of his own. I pushed the dead weight off and climbed back to my feet, driving one of my swords right through one of the infected. See unlike with the zombie apocalypse, you didn't have to aim for the head, any kill shot would do. I looked over at Derek and he was just pulling his claws out of the other ones head. "Now where's the other person?"

"Shhh!" I walked over to the janitor's closet. How could werewolf boy not hear that? "Hey… hey, you can come out now… … they're all dead… … look we risked our lives to save you so get the hell out here now!" I heard whoever it was start to move around some more, and then the door handle started to turn. The first thing I saw was the kid's big head poke out, nerd glasses and all. He must have been the bigger one I saw.

"Are they… are they gone?" he asked, his voice just as shaky as his hands.

"Yeah, thanks for the assist by the way." I wiped the blade off on my pants and put it back in my boot. "What's your name four eyes?"

"Mika… Mika Khorkov," he pushed his glasses up his nose like a true little nerd. I couldn't help but laugh when he told us his last name. It was somehow very fitting to the man that was standing in front of me.

"It suits you… where did you come from Mika?"

"I was an IT developer in Silicon Valley… I've been walking around for months… hiding out in buildings and cars, only walking at night,"

"Are you with anyone else?"

"No… no one else."

"Well ferret, it's your lucky day… here," I threw him one of my spare knives, he barely caught it though. "Follow us… here werewolf boy, you could use all the help you can get." I tossed him the gun, only to be used if absolutely necessary. It wasn't much of a hassle getting back out of the building and across the street. "Uh… D… D," I was never that good at remembering names.

"Derek,"

"Derek, you can take him up and make introductions, I have to go over everything we have… make an inventory." I stopped at my car and stepped into the trailer. I picked up the clip board that had all of the supplies written on it. If we wanted to stay ahead of a shortage we were going to have to go out soon to keep the stock up.

"Knock, knock… Derek said you were down here."

"Didn't want to stay and meet ferret?"

"Ferret?"

"Ha… uh, his last name, in Russian… it means ferret… suits him don't ya think?"

"Yeah, you could say that… so Xena… should we be expecting you to bring home strays every day?"

"Only if I find one… you guys have every right to kick him out… you were here first and I'm just a visitor."

"Yeah we're not going to kick him out… unless he does something to make us."

"Uh thanks by the way… for looking after Balto."

"Yeah you better be thankful, the bastard bit me like three times."

"Oh big baby wolf… just show him who the alpha is."

"You're a real comedian… … what are you doing?" he asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Taking stock, I'm going to go out later today and look for some more stuff,"

"Why, we have plenty."

"You wanna keep your supplies stocked; never let them get too thin. Anyway better we find the supplies then someone else."

"Are you going to take anyone with you?"

"Why, you offering?"

"Maybe,"

"If you want to come you can Mary… … here we need to take these upstairs and empty them out." I handed him a couple of the bag from the back of the car. I grabbed the other bags that had clothes and things in them form the back seat. "People need to start putting lists together of things we need and things they want."

"Yeah, okay… but I think we should gets some breakfast first, you didn't eat much last night." He grabbed the papers out of my hand, making me stop what I was doing. He was right I didn't eat much last night, hell I've only eaten three times this whole week. "I know I don't know you, but you don't have to take responsibility for all of us… stop working all the time, there are a lot of people here to take up the slack now."

"Okay, I get it… … let's go get something to eat Mary." I followed him up the stairs and back into the loft where everyone was eating there breakfast and listening to Ferret's story. I grabbed a can of spaghetti o's and a couple pieces of bread then headed back out on the balcony.

"Not much of a people person are you?" gun man asked, sitting down next to me.

"No, not really." I opened the can and sat it on the grate covering the fire.

"So you saved that kid?"

"I guess…"

"You're humble too,"

"No, it wasn't just me… werewolf man was there too."

"So they told you that?"

"Yeah, they had Isaac do it last night."

"And you're not freaked out?"

"Well when you grow up with a mom like mine nothing really surprises you."

"Oh yeah… what did she do?"

"Anthropology, zoology, archeology… but her favorite was crypto zoology. Drug me all over the place looking for all the myths and legends of the world."

"And where is she now?"

"She died almost four years ago, she was off to study the reptilians… a lizard like species that can disguise it's self in human form."

"Must have been an interesting life."

"Interesting isn't the word I would use," I left the conversation at that and ate my breakfast in silence. He didn't want to talk about what happened before the virus just like I didn't want to talk about my life after my mother died. Mary came out not long after and sat down next to me, eating a can of peaches. We all just sat there around the fire eating in quiet, no one saying a thing.

When everyone was done with their breakfast and Ferret went to get some rest I gathered everyone around the table to go over what supplies we had and to bring up the idea of going out for more. "We're doing fine on food and water for right now but we need to make sure we never get too low."

"So what's the plan then?" Scott asked from across the table.

"I'll be heading out in a few minutes… It's only going to be for a few days… Walk from one side of the city to the other, scour all the surrounding houses… then I'll head back into the preserve, collect some more water… maybe there's an old house out there that has a generator or some gas."

"But you can't go on your own,"

"I'm fine with going on my own, but if someone wants to volunteer that's fine to… I'm not going to make people risk their life if they don't want to."

"I'll go!" gun man volunteered,

"Yeah I'll go too," one of the lover boys chimed in.

"Well if he's going then so am I," other lover boy offered.

"Well obviously I'm going" and the always trustworthy Mary.

"That'll be enough; we don't want a big group… I'll leave the car and trailer here… Balto stays too, if something happens… take the car and get out of here okay."

"So how long do you think this will take?"

"Anywhere from two to three days, we'll have to camp out but we need to get as much as we can before others come through and wipe it out… if there's something specific that you want write it down and we'll see if we can get it."

"Are you going to leave any weapons?"

"Yeah, we'll take what we need; the rest will be down in the car… look try not to bring to much stuff up at a time… … even though we have a lot right now we still need to ration it so it lasts longer… okay I'm going up stairs to pack some stuff, you guys can plan the rest amongst yourselves."

I went back upstairs to Mary's room and started cleaning out some of the bags, leaving a change of clothes and a book. I hunched down so I could talk to Balto and let him know what was going on, "Hey boy, I'm going to be gone for a few days but these people are going to take good care of you… but you can't go around biting people. You have to be nice okay." I gave him a little scratch on the back of his ear.

"You know we're really luck you came along when you did," Mary said, scaring the crap out of me.

"Ah I'm sure you would have got along just fine." I stood back up and finished getting everything ready.

"The only people who know anything about survival stuff is the sheriff and Chris, then we have Melissa and Deaton for the medical stuff."

"I'm really going to have to write all these names down, there are so many of them… … is there anything you need to bring?" I asked, taking my sweater and pants off.

"Uh, no not really... um, what… what are you doing?" Mary asked, suddenly sounding very uncomfortable.

"Changing… it's like ninety degrees out there!" I pulled on a pair of shorts then leaned down to tie my boots back up. I felt my chain fall out of my shirt and it started dangling around in my face.

"Well that's new," he flicked the dog tags hanging from around my neck.

"No, I just don't wear them all the time."

"Whose are they?"

"General Aleksandr Lavrov of the SVR for the Russian Federation,"

"Who's that?"

"My father,"

"Your dad was in the Russian Military?"

"My father lived and breathed the military life… he thought it was his duty, his name sake."

"Name sake?"

"All Lavrov men were military… the defenders of man."

"Is that why you're so good with a weapon… and all this preparation stuff?"

"No, I actually hate guns and violence and I was never good at organization… but… I've learned to live with a lot in the last few months… … my father died when I was three, barely remember him… … there wasn't even any baby photos of us together… … I was his biggest mistake, should have been a boy, because all Lavrov men have boys!" I mimicked his thick Russian accent, just about the only thing I do remember about the guy.

"No offence but your dad sounds like a dick,"

"Well I wouldn't know… hey hand me that strap over there."

"Did you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Probably," I answered strapping my sword over my shoulder, then hefting my bag on next.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well mommy and daddy weren't really supposed to be doing the horizontal tango… he was married, so if he had kids… I do not know… ..."

"If your dad was such a scum bag then why do you wear those?"

"To remind me… … they remind me what I'm living for, why I keep fighting day after day… … I want to shove it in that assholes face that the 'girl' he didn't want lived longer than him, and even when the impossible happened I kept fighting… that I am stronger than the 'defender of man'." So maybe I did know what a dick he was and maybe I was still holding onto a grudge that didn't really matter.

"Well that seems like a valid excuse… you look like Laura Croft."

"Well it's hot outside so I'm wearing shorts, and I don't go anywhere without some kind of protection, I don't care who I look like." I threw an empty bag at his face and pushed him to the side to get by but there was someone blocking the door, it was that Scott guy's mom.

"Hey… can I talk to you in private for a minute."

"Uh yea sure, I'll just," I went to walk around her to give her and Mary some privacy.

"No I meant you,"

"Okay… uh… I'll be waiting with the others." Mary said, just as confused as I was. We both just stood there, waiting to make sure he was out of hearing distance.

"Did you need something… uh…?"

"Melissa… and yes actually I do need something… … complete discretion."

"Okay?"

"When you go out… there's something I need you to get me." She handed me a folded up piece of paper, "and like I said, complete discretion… please." I unfolded the paper and… holy mother of god you have to be kidding me.

"Uh… yeah, yeah of course… … does your son know?" This was the worst possible thing to happen in a world like this.

"No, no one… … it was… um… it was,"

"You don't have to explain it to me… I'll keep it to myself, your secrets safe with me."

"Thank you… … and thank you for everything you've done here. We were barely holding on before you showed up, and you saved Stiles… I know what you had to do out there and I am truly sorry you had to but I'm also thankful for what that little girl did."

"It's the new world order now, and I was only doing what I hope someone would do for me… … and as for your friend, well that was all Tanner." I grabbed the bag that was lying on the desk and walked around her, heading back to the main room.

Someone had put a map out on the table and a few of the guys were gridding out certain sections of the city. "So we have two super stores on both sides of the city… there are almost a dozen pharmacies and drug stores, plus the hospital." Stiles started talking, giving us all of our options.

"We're also going to want to hit up the police station, look for more weapons and ammo." They all nodded in agreement.

"Now I have no idea what you will find in the houses so you're on your own with that but there are dozens of grocery and general stores littered all over the city… and then you have the apartments if you want to check there."

"Okay so we sweep through the city and the outlying suburbs, then we stop off here to unload and go back out to the preserve and get some water and check the houses out there."

"That sounds like a plan,"

"And you might want to bring Ferret into the fold with what's going on around here, he's a jumpy kid so let the pretty red head do the talking… unless she's not his type, oh yeah… here, turn it on once at night when the sun sets for about five minutes and then again when the sun rises" I handed Scott one of the extra walkie-talkies I had picked up along the way and then I picked up the other empty bags and headed over to the group that was going to be coming with me on this run. I knew that I was going to need help on this but that didn't mean I was completely comfortable with these people leaving there friends and family and risking their lives.

I checked and double checked the gun that I was going to be bringing, making sure it was packed with a fully loaded clip and that I had a few extras in my bag. I checked the knife in my boot and the one strapped to my leg, then I made sure the sword strapped to my back was tight and secure and in easy reach. "Okay are we all read? ... Uh... Melissa," I pulled Melissa to the side so I could clear some things up about what she was asking me to get her. "Uh, Melissa can I speak to you real quick… … look I'm going to get what you need, but I need you to promise me something… you take it as soon as we get back and you tell me what it says immediately… … I'll need to know so I can go back out and get whatever you need… I'm not going to judge you on any decision you make."

"Okay, I will… thank you," I saw the others heading down the stairs so I followed after them,

"What was that about?" Mary asked, falling back so he could walk out with me.

"Just two girls having girly talk time about girly things… … okay Mr. Trigger Finger, no shooting unless your back is to the wall or someone else's back is to the wall. We don't need to be attracting any kind of attention to ourselves… here," I handed a machete over to Mary. Just because he had the whole werewolf thing going for him doesn't mean he will be that effective with it.

"I don't think I'll need that,"

"I don't care if you're a werewolf or not, these are quicker and more affective… that goes for you too pretty boy." I tossed the other werewolf in the group a baseball bat. "And for lover boy," I tossed pretty boys lover boy a spare sword. "Oh and remember… don't make any noise."

"So first stop is the super store just a couple of blocks north." I spotted one of those pretentious hummers sitting up the block and it gave me an idea.

"Look I know what I said earlier but we're not going to be able to carry everything we pick up so we're gonna need a car." I pointed out the giant monstrosity to the rest of the group. The all nodded and followed me up the block. I checked to see if there was any gas and then I started looking for keys, they were usually in the sun visor and when I pulled the visor of the passenger seat down they tumbled out. "Alright trigger finger you're driving." I hopped in the back with the two lover boys while Mary hopped up front. It was only a few minutes' drive up the road and we were all back out and heading into the store. Lover boy went off with trigger finger and pretty boy went by himself, so I was stuck with Mary. I started looking through the clothes for the others since it looked like they had been wearing the same thing for weeks. Just because it was the end of the world it didn't mean you had to smell like shit and be covered in blood and dirt.

"Will you put that down already… it's like ninety degrees outside… … Mary seriously put the scarf down!" he has spent the last ten minutes looking through different scarves.

"Hey you never know when you're going to need a scarf."

"In California, never… … try and find something useful!"

I headed over to the other side of the store, where they kept all the make-up, hair product, and hopefully where I would find what Melissa was asking for. I fell short as soon as I turned the corner and came face to… well… face to back of someone's head. Whoever it was they were walking backwards so they didn't see me and I had enough time to go back. I grabbed Isaac and pulled him into one of the clothing wracks and threw my hand over his mouth when he started to talk. "Shh… there's someone here… … where are the others?" we couldn't let these people know that we are here. It's not just the infected we have to watch out for. These guys have guns, meaning they're here for the same reason we are. I don't know if they are good or if they're bad but there was no way in hell we could just sit around here and find out. "Stay here," I quietly stepped out from our hiding spot and looked around the corner to see if I could find them. I slowly crept around the shelf and followed them.

"Oh look at what we got here boys," shit! The one that came up behind me grabbed both of my wrists before I could grab for my gun. I looked over at Isaac, trying to tell him not to do anything. "Little red riding hood's all alone." He grabbed me around my waist to keep me from squirming out of his grip, but the way he was touching me made me feel dirty all over.

"Well aren't you a pretty little thing… … I think we just found ourselves something better than food." I fought against the hold on me as hard as I could; kicking in every direction my legs would go. I would have screamed too but that would only put us all in the middle of a shit storm.

"Don't worry your pretty little head darlin', we're gonna treat you nice and good." Why is it always the creepy ass hicks that have to feed into the stereotype?

"To bad she can't scream… I love it when they scream." I needed to think of a plan, and soon. I couldn't get my hands out of this guys grip so I couldn't reach for any of my weapons… I needed to deal with this on my own so none of the others put themselves in danger. "Oh such smooth skin…" one of the guys walked closer and started touching every piece of bare skin, my arms, my leg, my chest, and my neck. I closed my eyes and tried to think of a plan, tried to put myself somewhere else. "She smells so good," he picked up a piece of my hair and held it to his nose, smelling it, and then he started getting closer, putting his nose against my neck. I looked over his head and saw the Hawaiian guy poke his head out from around one of the shelves but I just shook my head, telling him to not interfere. When I felt his hand snake up the front of my shirt I closed my eyes and counted …1 …2 …3 I threw my head back as fast and hard as I could, cracking the guy right in the nose. It jarred him so much that he dropped his grip on my hands and then I smashed my head into the guy who was feeling me up, knocking him on his ass. I grabbed the first weapon I could think of and put it threw one of the other guys chest.

"You stupid fucking bitch!"

"Yeah well at least I'm not some stupid fucking inbred hick!" I dodged the punch his threw at me and threw him at the other hick that was running my way. They were so busy fighting to untangle themselves that I had enough time to take out the 'ring leader', I put my knife right in his head; it was easier and quicker. Now all I had to deal with were the other two.

I didn't see it coming; the hick that tried to punch me took me down like a linebacker. I smacked my head off the concrete floor and saw stars. The fall jarred me so much that my knife was knocked out of my hand. "I'm really going to make you scream now!" He wasn't going to go straight for the goods right away; I had pissed him off too much for that. I got a few hits to the face and a knee to the stomach before he started for the zipper of my shorts. I kicked my legs out like a wild animal, trying to do anything I could to get out from under him. "Oh the more you struggle the better it is for me!" god these guys were sick bastards. He pushed up my shirt, touching me all over. It was like a horrible nightmare. Then it was over almost before it started. One minute he was feeling me up and the next he was just lying on top of me, nothing but dead weight. I pushed him off of me, double checking to make sure he was dead before I stood up and fixed my clothes.

"Are you okay?" someone asked, voice full of concern.

"Uh… yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I looked at the dead men lying all around me. Then I was joined by the lover boys and Mr. Trigger Finger. So it must have been Mary that saved me.

"What happened?" Trigger Finger asked, he sounded pretty angry.

"A little misunderstanding… but it's taken care of now so we should finish up here then head to the next stop."

"No, those cuts need to be taken care of."

I pulled my shirt up and wiped the blood off my face, "There… taken care of, now let's keep moving." They all just gave me different looks of concern and pity but they went back their separate ways.

"You should sit down for a minute… you hit your head pretty hard and… and uh… those guys… they were going to,"

"But they didn't so let's drop it, wipe this place and move on… now I have something I have to get… … go back to looking at your scarves." I held my breath in until I was down the feminine hygiene isle. God I could have been… … no, no I couldn't think like that. I would have figured a way out of it before it got to that point. Like I told Mary, it didn't happen so I needed to forget it and move on… it's not like that's the first time something like that has happened in the last three months. The truly sick people in this world have finally gotten an opportunity to let their freak flags fly and do what they've always wanted to do, without any consequence for their actions.

I looked through the shelves until I finally found what I was looking for, I pulled a sweater I had picked up and wrapped Melissa's request in it before shoving it to the bottom of my personal bag. I looked back at the shelf, looking for something that could possible prevent having another request like this. "Condoms?"

"God don't sneak up on me like that!" I whispered, knife up and poised to be jammed right into his throat.

"Are you planning on getting lucky?" he asked, eyebrow raised and an annoying little smirk painted on his face.

"Maybe," I shot back shoving the condoms in my bag. If we were all going to be locked up in close courters with each other I wasn't going to take any risk of someone getting knocked up. We didn't need a baby running around in a world like this. I pushed past him and started collecting other items the girls in the group will need. "Red wanted some kind of chapstick so if you could wipe that look off your face and go find it; it would be much appreciated… asshole."

I went down the aisle, throwing anything we could use into one of the bags. Then I headed back to the hunting section, hopefully it wasn't cleared out already. There weren't really any guns left but whoever decided to wipe out the guns forgot to stock up on ammo for those guns. I went through and grabbed every box there was even if we didn't have guns for them… never know when you might pick that particular gun up. After I stocked up on the ammo I headed for sporting goods, baseball bats made for good weapons if you didn't have anything else to use, and we were also going to need some extra bags to carry stuff in, and gym bags would do the job. When my carts and hands were full I walked back to the front of the store where the others were.

"Okay I think we should be heading out,"

"Yeah… here start putting everything into these bags." I threw a couple to everyone so they could start emptying their carts and filling the bags. "So there's a pharmacy and two convenient stores on this street, we split up and clear them out."

"There's also a head shop… they might have stuff Deaton can use… … you know for the supernatural stuff."

"Okay so who's taking what?"

"Well me and Ethan can't really get what Deaton needs so you, Danny or Chris will have to do that,"

"I wouldn't know what to look for so I'll take the pharmacy next to the store," I offered, letting the rest decide for themselves.

"I'll take the head shop, I'll know what to get."

"So that leaves Danny, Ethan, and me with the two stores."

"Okay so Danny and Ethan take one store, Mary you get the other one… let's go." We loaded everything into the back of the car, but I noticed something before I got in the back. "Wait… those hicks have to have some stuff in there." I ran over to their big truck and noticed the back was pretty full, and the keys were still in the ignition. I whistled over to the others and signaled that I was taking the truck, that I would follow them.

Our next stop wasn't far away but we had to spit up a little so it was a little more dangerous for everyone. I took three empty bags because I was planning on taking anything and everything I came across, even if we needed it or not. It looked like it had been tossed but they didn't take everything, they barely took anything really. Every pill bottle I came across went straight into the bag. I stopped short when I came across the two things I would possible need to get in the future. Two possible options to be made by one scared women. I grabbed all the vitamins and a couple for the other option, we needed to take precaution just in case and I could always go back out for the other stuff if I needed it.

I sat down on the counter for the front register to take a little break, there wasn't anything else we needed here and I was sweating like satan's balls. I popped the top of the bottle of jack I found sitting behind the counter and reached over to grab a pack of menthols. It was a filthy habit that Sasha got me started on and I had quit more times than I can remember but I needed something to calm my still shaky nerves from what happened early. I looked through the bag and made sure to separate the secret stuff from the rest of the pills. When I was done, I just sat back and rested for a few minutes. I grabbed the little teddy bear that was still setting up on the counter from Christmas, he reminded me of Mr. Tiggles. I dragged that poor bear around everywhere with me.

"Those things will kill you,"

"Yeah well… what won't kill you now a day's… and I think I'm gonna have to tie a bell around your neck from now on Mary, did you get everything?"

"Yeah, four bags… so what's the plan for after?"

"Well we keep going until everyone gets tired and hungry… god I miss central air, the best thing about walking into a store on a hot summer day was feeling that cold air blast you in the face."

"Yeah well I miss the internet. It was one of the first things to go out."

"I miss TV… and Netflix, anyway let's go see where everyone else is." I hopped off the counter, shoving the bottle of jack in my bag and throwing the cigarettes over my shoulder, and following Mary outside to the sweltering California sun. God I hate summer so damn much. I saw everyone loading bags into the truck, this was a good day. The people around here must have just fled with nothing or died without knowing what hit them. "Okay I think someone should stay with the stuff while the others go around these three blocks." I said, laying the map out on the hood of the truck, pointing at the three blocks south of here.

"I think two of us should stay since there are two cars and the rest should go and then we'll trade off." Trigger finger offered up which sounded like a great idea.

"Okay, so who volunteers… and we're not leaving you two lover boys alone so you can hook up in the backseat."

"Then it's going to be one of you… I'm not letting Danny go by himself."

"Fine I'll stay… who else?"

"Chris knows what to get so I'll just stay here."

"Okay… hey pretty boy take this with you." I tossed him the knife from my boot and hopped up on the hood of the hillbilly's truck. "Hey Mary, I got you something," I tossed him the scarf I saw hanging from the coat rack in the pharmacy. Whoever wore it before all of this happened must have had a thing for wolfs.

"Oh well isn't that beautiful… but you were right, it's hot as hell out here."

"Here I might have something." I hopped off the truck and started digging through one of the bags, looking for a thinner shirt; we didn't need a werewolf with heat stroke. "Here you go Mary," I tossed him the thin light blue shirt; one of the only guys clothes I could find. I hopped back up on the hood of the car, pretending not to notice anything that was happening in front of me and denying it very hard that I found what I saw very alluring and quite sexy… because there was no way that I was going there at all.

"So we have time to kill… have anything in mind?" I didn't like the look in his eyes when he asked me that… well parts of me liked it but other parts hated it.

"We could play quiet as a mouse… the rules are you have to be quiet… as a mouse."

"Oh you think your funny… okay we could do twenty questions?"

"I don't like questions,"

"Well I don't like silences," I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye.

"Well you're going to have to like it… right over there." I whispered, climbing off the hood of the trunk and pulling my blade out. There were about three infected sniffing their way down the street. I grabbed Isaac and pulled him behind the truck, making sure he was being very quiet. If we just stayed very still and very quiet they would just walk on by. I heard laughing down the street and I knew it wasn't anybody of this group. God who would be stupid enough to be making so much noise out in the open like this. I tried to grab their attention, let them know that they needed to turn around. I tried to move out from around the truck but Isaac grabbed me by the waist and threw his hand over my mouth when I tried to yell out to them.

"Shh, be quiet… I'm sorry but you have to be quiet." He whispered in my ear as I kicked against him, trying to make him let me go. We could save them and he was holding me back, there were only three of them, it would be so easy to take them out and save those people. Why was he doing this, they were innocent people that didn't deserve to be ripped apart. I kicked him in his shins as hard as I could but he kept a strong hold on me. When I heard them start to scream I gave up the fight, it was too late. I just let all the tension in my body go, waiting for him to let me go. I knew what kind of world we were living in now and we had just killed four men but those people weren't bad, they were laughing for fucks sake and now they're being ripped apart. He finally let me go when the screaming stopped and I pulled away from him as fast as I could.

"Don't you ever touch me like that again," I spat, walking out from around the truck and across the street. I took my aggression out on them one by one; stabbing, slashing, and cutting without fail or incident and then I walked back over to the trucks. I got in the front seat of the truck I was driving without even looking at him and waited for the rest of the group to get back. He sat in the back of the hummer while I sat in the front seat of the truck, neither of us saying a word to the other. It was about another 40 minutes before the group showed back up, which was good because I was starting to get worried that something had happened. I hopped out of the truck as Mr. Trigger Finger walked up.

"We did good, got a lot more food and water… some more weapons and some clothes for the others, batteries too." He jingled the bag that had all the batteries in them.

"Great, let's put them in the back of this truck, leave more room in that one." I bit out as I took a couple of the bags from them.

"Did something happen while we were gone?" Pretty boy asked when he noticed the tension between me and Isaac and the way I was just talking in short sentences.

"Nope, everything was fine… no incidents'." I threw the bag he handed me into the back of the truck and moved out of the way so the others could do the same. "Pretty Boy and Trigger Finger take the next watch, the rest of us will look over the three blocks that way then we stop for the night." I headed off not caring if the rest were following me. I was pissed off and just wanted to be left in peace. "You two take that store and I'll take this drug store." I walked in before anyone could argue and started back to the pharmacy. I can't believe that son of a bitch thought he could just grab me like that and stop me from helping those people. The only way I was able to sleep at night was because I never walked away from helping people that needed it. I was the reason everyone was living in the middle of this shit storm so the least I could do was save them from being ripped apart. He just held me there while I had to listen to two innocent people get ripped apart. I popped the top off of one of the pill bottles and chocked a couple of them down with a swig of jack then moved on to stocking the bags full of pill bottles.

I noticed a door with a sign above it that read 'Don's Sporting and Outdoor Wear' so I went there. It must be a store attached to this place; maybe the same guy owned both stores. I needed to get Red a nice pair of boots so she wasn't walking around the place in heels, one of these days she would wind up breaking her freaking neck trying to run away, and the boots I loaned her were pretty warn down with holes in them.

"You can't ignore me forever," I drew my sword up to his throat, even after I knew who it was. He really shouldn't go around sneaking up on people in a time like this. I didn't have any planes to lower it either, the prick deserved whatever he got for doing what he did.

"I can ignore you for however long I want… you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do."

"You could have gotten killed, we didn't know what kind of people they were and there were three of those things."

"Whether or not I could have gotten killed doesn't give you the right to decide, it's my life Isaac and I get to make those decisions… … they were innocent kids, probably only fifteen… and I have taken on a lot more than three of those things."

"You are a part of this group now Connor, whether you like it or not, so I'm not going to let you get yourself killed and I'm not sorry about that… but I am sorry for grabbing you like that."

"Look just go back to your store and keep an eye on lover boy… and leave me alone from now on."

"I was just trying to help!"

"Well don't… I don't need your help!" I turned away and carried on looking for anything we could use. I could feel the pills and alcohol start to take affect so I just let it all go and let the buzz take over. I felt numb which was better than what I had been feeling for the past three almost four months. I grabbed some more empty bags and headed back into the drug store since it was the only way to get out of this building and then I headed for a tech store a few buildings down, maybe they had some batteries. Judging by the state of all these stores I would say outsiders haven't really made it through here yet, which was good for us.

"Hey, there's not much left in these three blocks… mostly office buildings, so we can head back when you're done." Lover boy said from behind me, Isaac standing next to him. They both had bags full of stuff.

"Okay… look there's a garage right up there, we can pull the cars in there and set up shop for the night… so you guys can head back, tell the others, and pull the cars up this way." They both nodded and headed out of the store and back down the street. I walked back down to the sporting and outdoor place looking for some sleeping bags, some of us were going to need some sleep and the concrete floor of a garage wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, once I grabbed those I headed back into the drug store and I saw the trucks drive by the window so I decided to head down that way and unload my bags.

"So we did really, really good today but we need to get some rest because tired equals slow and slow equals dead." I noticed a small book store across the street and I needed some new reading material so I decided to go scope it out. "Look I'll be right back… and remember no fires; they're attracted to the light and the heat." I left them with that and headed over to the book store, looking through all the shelves and turnstiles

The one good, and you could easily say bad, thing about all of this was the books. They were really the only thing no one would touch because people just didn't like to read. The bad thing was that there would never be a book that hasn't already been written, no new stories to experience. I passed up the horror and sifi, I had enough of that in my life as it was, and even though Stephen King was my favorite I didn't think it was appropriate reading material for this situation. I instead looked at the history books, the non-fiction, the biographies… the books I had always wanted to read but never had the free time to actually do it… then I came across a treasure, "The Entire Works of Edgar Allen Poe" and it was right next to "The Bard Himself: Four Complete Works of William Shakespeare". I grabbed both of them and put them in my bag before going down the next isle and looking through some books on Nazi Germany ad World War II, my favorite subject in school, besides science and biology.

"If you scream I will put this knife in your spine… do you understand?"

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**Hope you likes it!**

**_lamortdel'humanité - _la mort de l'humanité - the death of humanity**

**Khorkov - Хорьков - Ferrets**

**Leave a review when you're done, much apreciated.**

**XOX**


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